Interpersonal relationships and preschool organizational climate: multiple mediating roles of psychological wellbeing and self-regulation

Preschool teachers’ daily interpersonal relationships actively construct their school’s organizational climate. However, the underlying psychological and behavioral mechanisms linking staff connections to organizational climate remain understudied. This study investigated how interpersonal relationships shape organizational climate by focusing on the parallel mediating roles of psychological wellbeing, which represents teachers’ internal emotional states, and self-regulation, which represents their active cognitive and behavioral capacity. Data were collected from 506 preschool teachers across Taiwan using the custom-developed Interpersonal Relationships and Organizational Climate Survey (IROCS). We conducted partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with 5,000 bootstrap resamples to evaluate the structural model. Based on the subjective views and perceptions of the participating preschool teachers, the results revealed that psychological wellbeing and self-regulation partially mediate the relationship between interpersonal relationships and organizational climate. Both indirect pathways were statistically significant, with self-regulation demonstrating a significantly stronger, more proximal mediating effect than psychological wellbeing. These findings imply that, from the participants’ perspectives, a positive organizational climate is cultivated through supportive workplace relationships that nourish teachers’ emotional well-being and support their daily self-regulatory behaviors. Preschool leaders should implement structured institutional practices, such as reflective work discussion groups, peer mentoring, and professional learning communities, to support teachers’ self-regulatory capacities and build a collaborative, resilient organizational climate.